Painful Legacy
by Anya Shizaku
Summary: Yukari moves from America to Japan and unlike all the other times she's moved, it seems to be permanent. Life seems to be almost normal after her first day there until she reads a strange email sent to her father...
1. Moving In

"So... you still haven't said why we have to move to Japan." The speaker was a teenage girl with short black hair and blueish-green eyes. She looked fourteen or fifteen.

"Your father was transferred over here a few months ago. You know that," her mother replied. She was a woman in her mid-to late thirties with dark brown hair and soft brown eyes. She looked every bit Japanese. "Besides, I grew up here. I've told you that my parents moved us to America when I was a few years older than you are now."

"Yea, but..." But what? "You were finishing highschool, not starting it. You said that you only had to go for the last few months before you graduated. That's better than all four years."

"Why must you be so stubborn?"

"Genetics. I got it from you."

The two fell silent as the older navigated the foreign streets. The girl stared mournfully out the window. She had never really stayed in one place for more than a year, so this wasn't anything new, but at her last school, she had thought she had finally found friends and something she liked to do. Never before had they stayed in one place long enough to make any real friends or anything like that. Twenty minutes later, they had left the city behind and entered pulled into the driveway of a house in a rural area. From what they had been told in the letters from her father, it had a lot of property and few neighbors.

No one else was there, so they let themselves in. There was a note on the table just inside the door. "Yukari, it says your room is here," her mom said showing it to her. The drawing was of the floor plan of the house. It truly was big. From where they were in the entrance hall, there was the living room ahead with the kitchen and dining room to one side. A hall that lead to the right ended with her parents' room, along with a study. One that went to the left ended with hers.

Yukari went back out to the car to get the few bags she had brought and headed to her room. She had never been a people person and never had a reason to, instead she preferred to be alone with her music and books. There had never been a reason to get to know people. Any friendships she did make were always broken when she moved and never heard from them again. Somehow this felt different. It was a big house that her father had bought, when all the other times they had rented something.

She stopped her musings as she reached her room. It was nice. A bed against one wall with a window opposite as well as one on the wall the headboard was against, a bookcase under one and a dresser near the closet. A desk was in one corner. A few shopping bags were sitting on the bed, as well as a large box. Dropping her things, she went to investigate. The box had a radio similar to one she had owned in America, only nicer, as well as a few books, some of which were in English. One of the bags had more books and a stack of CDs. The rest of the bags held clothes. She smiled. Her father knew her better than most people. Not only were the clothes the kind she would have picked out but there were two uniforms, a boy's and a girl's. She had always despised skirts, they got in the way.

Taking out the radio, she picked out a CD by Ali Project(1) and but it in to play. The radio went on top of her dresser and she proceeded to unpack the rest of her things. The process went quicker than usual. Having moved to a new country, she had less clutter to deal with, and only had to sort through the new things and what se had brought. Forty minutes later, she was stumbling over the words in one of the books written Japanese. Her fluency was poor, but she knew the language.

"You've made yourself right at home, I see." Yukari jumped. Her mother had entered the room without her even noticing. That was probably the result of the loud music. "Dinner's ready."

"What time is it?"

"Almost six. Next time we go out, remind me to get you a clock or something." With that, she left.

Yukari frowned. The time change had her confused. She knew it was normal, but it was bigger than the three hour delay between the East Coast of America and the West, by seven hours. Brushing it off -she knew she would hopelessly confuse herself otherwise- she went out to find the dining room.

Most of dinner pasted in silence and it was only after they were done eating did her mother bring up a real topic.

"You're starting school on Monday."

"What?"

"School. It's only October, so you wont have missed too much."

"Right..."

"Your father arranged for you to go to a good school, unlike your old ones, he said."

"Of course it wont be like them, it's a whole new country," Yukari muttered.

"Don't be that way. He even talked to them about whether or not you had to wear the girl's uniform. Remember that time in New York?"

"How could I not?" The only other school she had gone to with a uniform, and all girl's no less. She had never worn that school and gotten expelled because she refused to go after the third week. Deciding she was bored with the topic, she picked up her dishes and took them to the kitchen, her mother following.

"How do you like your room?" she asked as they left.

"It boring. There isn't a lot in there and the walls are too empty." Yukari then went back to said room and left her mother to plan the next day.

* * *

(1) Ali Project - if you know them, great, if not, I don't own them. They did te themes for a couple animes I like and I'm currently obsessing (somewhat) over them. 

About the time zone thing... a lot of people probably already know it's a ten hour difference from Pacific Time (I'm in Washington state), call my stupid but I only just figure that out, with the help of my cell's world time thing...


	2. Surprises

Yukari wandered into the living room where her mother was sitting, watching tv. It was a talk show that she probably wouldn't find at all interesting. "What time is it?"

"Good, your up. I was planning on going into town today to do some general shopping. Do you want to come?"

"General shopping as in...?"

"Oh, some groceries, your clock and some other things."

"Nah." The conversation over, Yukari left to get something to eat. A minute later, she came back out, a Poptart in one hand. "When's dad going to be home?"

"He should be back by this evening." Again, Yukari left the room, going back to her room this time.

While they had been waiting for the plane to Japan at Seatac, she had found a notebook in one of the souvenir shops and bought it then exchanged the rest of her money for yen. Later on the plane, she had begun a drawing of something that faintly resembled an elf with wings. Now she finished it and added a caption under it, written in Japanese of course. (Monday, and school, was only three days away and all her Japanese skills were rusty. She'd quit bothering with them when she had started middle school three years earlier.) The caption read "I am from the darkness, but not of the darkness. I light my own way."

Staring at it for a while, she decided the notebook could double as a diary. Turning the page, she began writing.

'_26 October 2006 - Thursday - Well, its my first real day here in Japan and so far, I suppose its been ok. Nothing to really complain about other that the fact that I despise jet lag. School starts on Monday, I'm not sure how I'm looking forward to that. I don't like uniforms but at least I don't have to wear the skirt. And its red, not pink. Heh... That's a funny thought. The guys all going around in pink uniforms. _

_My Japanese is still horrible, but I could understand what they were saying on that show my mom was watching. It was worse than the ones in America! Oh, there goes my mom, she just pulled out the driveway. Well, I'm going to explore the rest of the house. This place is huge. I hope there's a computer in the study...'_

Closing the notebook, she slid it into the corner of the desk and stood, stretching as she did so. The house seemed dark now that she was the only one there. The lights were off and it was a sunny day, so she didn't bother with them. It just felt empty, lonely.

The study door was shut, but she opened it and sure enough, there was a computer in there. It hummed quietly but the monitor was off. Pushing the button, she screen turned white and her father's email came up. It was open to a letter from someone.

'The preparations have been delayed. We cannot finish on schedule. It seems that Koenma has an idea of what we're doing. Use caution. – Yamato Hiroaki"

"That's odd," Yukari muttered. Whatever it was, he probably didn't want her to see it, so she turned off the monitor without touching anything else and left the room. Perhaps the computer would be off limits. The phrasing of the message had given her the feeling that her father's job might not be as respectable as it seemed. She didn't even notice that it hadn't been Japanese she was reading, nor was it English. Hurriedly, she left the room and went back to hers.

* * *

"Reiko? Is that you?" Reiko turned to the sound of the voice. It was faintly familiar... 

"Shiori? Its been a long time."

"It has. When you left for America, I thought I might never see you again. How long has it been, twenty something years?"

"Something like that. How has life been treating you?" The two were standing in the fresh produce section of the store.

"Oh, you know. Life's life. How about you?"

"The same. My daughter and I just moved here, my husband's been working here for the past few months and his boss thinks this move might be permanent."

"That's wonderful. I take it you don't stay in one place for too long then?"

"No. I think Yukari, my daughter, might be getting tired of it."

"That's a pretty name. How old is she?"

"Fourteen."

"Really? I have a son, Shuichi, he's fifteen. Do you know where Yukari will go to school?"

"Yes, Sarayashiki. Her father enrolled her a couple weeks ago."

"My goodness. That's Shuichi's school as well."

"Why don't the two of you come over sometime? Yukari starts school on Monday and I'm sure she would like it if she could meet someone her own age."

"That would be nice."

"Does Monday after their school gets out sound ok?"

"It does. I'll let Shuichi know. Would it be ok if he went with Yukari? I could come over a little earlier."

"Yes," she paused, digging a pen and paper from her purse, "here's our address."

"Alright, see you Monday. I must be going now."

"Good bye."

* * *

"Yukari, please come here," Reiko called her daughter. 

"Coming, Mom!" The girl walked out of her room after putting her book down. She had all but forgotten the email she had read.

"Can you help me with the groceries?"

"Sure." She headed out to the car while her mother put what she had just brought in away. Three trips later, Yukari was finished.

"We're going to have company on Monday."

"Huh? I thought I was starting school then."

"You are, and don't think you're getting out of it."

Yukari groaned. "Who is it?"

"An old friend of mine, Shiori. She'll be here when you get back, and said that she'll have her son, Shuichi come over with you, since you both go to the same school."

"Great..."

"Now go set your clock up. Remember to set the alarm for before eight."

"Right."

* * *

(1)Sarayashiki - yes, I know it's Yusuke's school, but since I can't think of the name of Kurama's anywhere, I decided to solve multiple problems at once. It's the same school, but divided up depending on the results of a test or something... I'm not going to bother with that, but it's like the advanced kids have the red uniform and the others wear blue. 


	3. School

That night, her father arrived home and offered to cook diner. He also gave Yukari a poster which she immediately pinned up on her wall. The next day he offered to take her into town to show her various places such as the school and mall. Even with the excursion, the day passed slowly and he had to leave again shortly before she went to bed. By then, she had forgotten that there would be company sometime the next day.

The next morning, Yukari woke up feeling like she was beginning to get used to the time difference. She took a shower, dressed and went to raid the kitchen. Her mother was just getting off the phone and looked genuinely happy to see her daughter.

"Shiori and Shuichi are coming over for lunch today." For a second, Yukari just looked at her. She had just gotten out of the shower, but they never seemed to help her wake up like they did with most other people. Then a look of comprehension spread over her face.

"Oh. Them. Your friend from before you left." Nodding slightly, she walked over to the cupboard and pulled down a box of cereal. The clock on the microwave read 9:30. "So... If their coming over for lunch... when will that be and how early will the get here?"

"We'll eat sometime before one, and they'll get here between eleven and noon."

"Ah." She poured her cereal then, as an after thought, left the room and returned with the book she had been reading. Smiling, her mother left to get dressed and do whatever else she did in the morning. The next little while passed with Yukari eating silently and trying to think of ways to get out of having out spend every moment that her mother's friends and son were there. She knew that was what her mom would make her do. She could always just say she didn't want to but that would be 'rude' and she would get into trouble. Not something high on her to-do list. Then there was the classic, playing sick, but that had gotten old when she was in elementary school. Still unable to think of anything as she washed and put her dishes away, she gave up and went back her room.

Sitting at her desk, she pulled out her notebook again and opened to the page with the drawing from a few days ago. Looking over it, she decided to add a background. Slowly, a bleak wilderness emerged on te right hand side and a forest on the left. The elf-thing was facing toward the forest. The sky to the right became overcast and stormy while what could be seen through the tops of the trees became sunny.

Leaning down, she pulled a slim box out from under the desk. In it, she kept her real drawing tools, the professional looking pencils, colored pencils, erasers for both ink and pencil and some pens that wrote in different thicknesses for outlining. These were put to use, adding the needed small details and outlines before she pulled out a tin of colored pencils.

The front doorbell rang, startling Yukari out of her trance-like state. She looked down and saw colors emerging from the picture. The creature's skin was pale, the sky on the left blue, her clothes shades of black, blue and red. Sighing, she closed the book, put everything away and left the room.

Voices came from the entryway, so that's where she headed. Her mother was leading two strangers into the living room. One was a woman about her mother's age with long dark hair and dark eyes, the other was a boy with long red hair and green eyes. Her mother noticed her immediately.

"This is my daughter, Yukari. Yukari, this is Minamino Shiori and her son, Shuichi." Yukari nodded in greeting. Reiko lead the group in to sit. Shiori and Shuichi on the couch, Reiko took the chair almost directly across. Yukari dropped to the floor nearby. She had never been a people person, and that especially went for when she was meeting someone new for the first time. The two women quickly fell into idle chatter, mostly about what had been going on in the twenty-two years since Reiko. The teens listened silently.

After some while of this, the topic changed to family, then to school, where Shuichi and Yukari were brought in.

"I heard that Sarayashiki is a very good school," Reiko commented at one point.

"It is. Shuichi is the top in his class."

"Oh, that's wonderful. Yukari does pretty well herself, although she never really seems to care if she's given awards like certificates of academic achievement or for having perfect attendance. Isn't that right?"

"It's not like they're ever going to be any use..." Yukari muttered when her mother looked at her. Both women smiled.

"Shuichi is the same way." Gradually the conversation moved away from the two teens. Soon, Reiko looked at the clock and made a comment about the time. With that, both women moved into the kitchen to prepare lunch.

"Why is it that parents seem to like talking about their kids when we're right there?"Yukari asked alloud. "It's annoying."

"It can be sometimes," Shuichi replied. Yukari looked at him but said nothing. "So, your from America?"

"Yea, but apparently my mom knew yours when they were younger."

"That's what I heard to. Your Japanese is pretty good for someone who's only been here a few days."

"I learned it when I was little. One of the biggest insults over there was to be called Asian, so I stopped using it. What's your school like?"

"Well, its been divided between those who passed a test before entering and those who didn't, almost like two separate schools in one. There's the upper and the lower classes. Which one are you in?"

"Upper, ninth grade."

"Then we're probably going to have at least one class together." Silence fell agian for a few minutes before Reiko called them to eat.


	4. Suspicions

Christmas, family stuff... writer's block... the works. -.-;

Forgive me! I have such bad writer's black for this part but I want to go on, so... I'm going to skip it. If anyone has suggestions for what should happen while Shiori and Shuichi (geez its getting annoying always having to call him that) are at Yukari's house. Thanks! If I manage to write something, I'll add it... somewhere... On with the chapter!

Kagawa Tetsui stood infront of a large grey cylinder. If he hadn't been the one in charge of it and its contents, he would have assumed that it was an unfinished column of some sort. If you looked closely, you could see a rusty stain around the top and forming thin trails downward. There were runes written in the same substance around the upper and lower edges, as well as in the middle. The man smiled. His part of the job was nearly done. Only one more until he could finish and Matsu would be able to carry out his plan. Of course, there was always the possibility that the plan might fail. The smile widened, revealing canine teeth only a little longer than a normal human's, and sharply pointed.

"Tetsui," a voice behind him said. "How long until your part is finished."

"Not long. Not long at all. Within the week if all goes right."

"Do you thing anyone is suspicious of anything?"

"No. None of the disappearances were even in the news."

"Good. Matsu-sama does not want to wait longer than necessary. Ten years have already passed, and a month where we could do nothing but wait for you."

"I know that. It will be soon. Now, I must be going. They are used to me being gone for long periods, but very rarely does that extend for more than two weeks. Besides, I must do something about that boy who has been hanging around my daughter. I fear he may be a... bad influence. We can't have that, now can we? Even if he knows, I won't let him get any farther than those girls _he_ sent."

"That is the one thing I don't like about you. You think up your own plans and never tell anyone. If I didn't know better, I would say you were untrustworthy."

The smile vanished from Tetsui's face. Although he had given no reason them not to trust them, it would not be good for them to find one. "Maybe I am just more thoughtful than some of the other's who serve under Matsu." His words echoed through the nearly empty room. Turning, he faced the other man. Hiroaki was ok, but Seishiro wasn't. The man, Ijichi Seishiro was always against everything Tetsui said. It had gotten to the point where he had stopped thinking of him as a comrade and more of a tool Matsu used. It made working with him more bearable.

"So, what do you want this time?" Yusuke demanded of Koenma. "Winter Break starts the day after tomorrow and I would like to actually use it as a break. Not as an excuse to go on missions."

"Don't worry. I just need to tell you all something important."

"And that is...?"

"If you'll let me finish, I'll tell you. Now, you have all heard rumors of the recent disappearances, I believe there were fourteen in all." The four assembled boys nodded, some more slowly than others. "We have been able to link them to someone called Kagawa Tetsui, but are unable to gather any information on him or what he may be doing. I need you to be on the lookout for anything that might be useful."

"Right. Is that all?"

As Koenma took a second to answer, Kurama spoke. "Does he by any chance have a daughter?"

"Yes. She should be about your age."

"How did you know that?" Kuwabara asked.

"She goes to our school."

"Hey yea... I think I've heard of her. Yukari, right?"

"Yes. She is in my class."

"That would explain it then."

"If that's the case, then try to find out anything you can that she might know." Kurama nodded.

"I'm back!" Tetsui called into the quiet house.

"Oh, its good to see you again. Dinner's almost ready. Why didn't you call? I would have made something better."

"Its ok. Your cooking is always the best."

"Be quiet."

"I heard dinner's almost ready," Yukari said coming into the front room.

"It's good to see you too," her father said walking over. "I got you something." She looked at him like she wasn't entirely sure what to expect. Tetsui reached into his bag and pulled out a laptop, handing it to his daughter, he spoke. "I know you don't exactly like it when I'm always gone so... sorry?"

"Cool, thanks."

"I thought you would like it."

"But it's so expensive, how did you get the money for it?"

"I told you, I got promoted. Remember? Its why we had to move here. Now what about dinner?"

Yukari ran the laptop to her room as her parents put the food on the table. During the meal, no one spoke, and after, there wasn't much conversation.

"So, how's school going?" Tetsui asked Yukari after a minute or two of silence.

"Mm... It's ok. Pretty much like every other school I've been to."

"Well, do you like it?"

"I guess. The teachers aren't as bad as they could be, but the classes are boring."

"You always say that. Any friends?"

"Not really. There's this guy, Shuichi, who talks to me sometimes, but I think its only because Mom knows his."

"That's not true," Reiko put in. "He's a nice boy, and I'm sure he would like it if you actually talked."Yukari shrugged, then stood and took her dishes to the kitchen.

"I've got homework, and if I don't finish it by tomorrow, it won't count."

"If you need any help, let me know," Tetsui said as he watched the girl leave. After her bedroom door closed, he turned to his wife. "Is she always that quiet?"

"Yes. It could be why she's never had many friends. I still can't figure out why Erika and Alexis stopped coming over."

"Those are the two from her last school?"

"Right. Maybe you should try to be home a bit more, I think she get's lonely and I'm afraid that I can't exactly relate with her the same way you do."

"I'll try, but right now we're very busy. The company is expanding and there is a lot that needs to be done."

"I know. I just don't think it's geed for her to be alone in her room all the time."

"You know what, I don't have to go back for a few day's, why don't I take her out for a while tomorrow after school?"

"That sounds good. She should like it."

"That's what I thought. Well, I've got just a little bit of paper work that needs doing. See you later."

There, see? I've finally gotten around to actually having the others show up. I thought it was getting kinda boring without it actually going anywhere but I had to get it started somehow. If I actually write it how I'm thinking of doing it, it should start to get into the action/adventure part. Hopefully...


End file.
